MAMC Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan 2020)

Trends of Blood Pressure and Body Mass Index Among Adolescents and Young Adults of a Government Medical College in India

  • Yamini Marimuthu,
  • Panna Lal,
  • Navya Gangadharan,
  • Bharathnag Nagappa

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/mamcjms.mamcjms_90_19
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 3
pp. 216 – 222

Abstract

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Context: Medical undergraduates are an important health resource for the country in the future. Their health status and risk for the development of non-communicable disease need to be studied. Early diagnosis and management of these physiological risk factors among adolescents and young adults are of utmost importance for a healthy world in the future. Aims: The study was performed to assess the trend of non-communicable disease risk factors among adolescents and young adults of a government medical college in Delhi over 13 years from 2000 to 2013. Subjects and Design: A record-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a medical college in Delhi. The records of the routine health screening of MBBS students from 2000 to 2013 were analyzed. The data related to the student’s age, sex, height, weight, blood pressure, family history of diabetes, family history of hypertension were utilized for the study. Results: Among 1350 study participants 63.5% were males. Female MBBS students were constantly lesser than males with a minimum of 20% in 2006. The trends of obesity among MBBS students were increasing from 11.3% in 2000 to a maximum of 31.7% in 2013. The prevalence of hypertension was 8.1% in the year 2000 which increased to 16.4% in 2001, 10.6% in 2002, 15.3% in 2006, 14.% in 2007 and then it decreased to 1.5% in 2013. Conclusion: Our study has found that there was an alarming increase in the trend of prevalence of obesity among medical undergraduates which indicates the need for urgent interventions to minimize unhealthy behaviours among future doctors. Key Messages: The MBBS undergraduate students are the future doctors of India who are going to manage patients with non-communicable diseases (NCD). But, they themselves are at high risk of having NCDs in future. This study assessed the trend of NCD risk factors over 13 years and found that the prevalence of obesity has increased alarmingly.

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